Rick Santorum the right presidential choice on Super Tuesday

Friday, January 1, 1904

In this year when the American people will choose a president, it is painfully clear that Barack Obama has performed abysmally in that office and should be replaced.

Our nation has endured 36 straight months of higher than 8 percent unemployment on his watch. That is the longest such period since the Great Depression.

Obama does not bear sole responsibility for that, but the heavy regulations of ObamaCare and the president's constant threats of new taxes have helped stifle the economy. Meanwhile, his administration vastly overestimated the jobs that the $862 billion "stimulus" would create.

Obama is also starkly liberal on a range of social issues, and he seems indifferent to the harm caused by actions he has taken such as restricting U.S. oil production in a time of near-record-high gas prices.

While no one Republican hopeful embodies every trait we might like to see in a challenger for Obama, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum presents the clearest contrast from the failed policies of the current president. And so we recommend a strong vote for Santorum in Tennessee's and Georgia's March 6 primaries.

Santorum is a consistent conservative on issues such as religious liberty and the sanctity of life.

He also stands firmly against ObamaCare and would seek its repeal by Congress if the unconstitutional law is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In addition, Santorum would expand domestic energy production to make our nation less dependent on oil from hostile foreign nations, and he opposes impractical alternative energy schemes promoted by Obama.

Santorum would also take immediate steps -- including slashing the size of the bloated federal workforce -- to cut federal spending and reduce our catastrophic $15.3 trillion national debt.

Santorum's main GOP opponents, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have strengths as well as some weaknesses. But Santorum offers the sturdy conservative vision and principles our nation needs to get back on the right track.

His recent surge in primaries and caucuses and in national polls is encouraging, and we hope it continues on Super Tuesday.